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The Society for Pentecostal Studies began in 1970 and is an organization of scholars dedicated to providing a forum of discussion for all academic disciplines as a spiritual service to the kingdom of God. The purpose of the Society is to stimulate, encourage, recognize, and publicize the work of Pentecostal and Charismatic scholars and scholars of Pentecostalism; to study the implications of Pentecostal theology in relation to other academic disciplines, seeking a Pentecostal world-and-life view; and to support fully, to the extent appropriate for an academic society, the following statement of purposes:

• To encourage fellowship and facilitate co-ordination of effort among Pentecostal believers throughout the world.
• To demonstrate to the world the essential unity of Spirit-baptized believers, fulfilling the prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ, “That they all may be one” (John 17:21).
• To cooperate in an endeavor to respond to the unchanging commission of the Lord Jesus, to carry His message to all people of all nations.
• To promote courtesy and mutual understanding, “endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, until we all come in the unity of the faith” (Ephesians 4:3, 13).
• To afford prayerful and practical assistance to any Pentecostal body in need of such.
• To promote and maintain the scriptural purity of the Society by Bible study and prayer.
• To uphold and maintain those Pentecostal truths, “most surely believed among us” (Luke 1:1).

The Society publishes Pneuma: The Journal of the Society for Pentecostal Studies. The Society also holds an annual meeting for members and friends. Each meeting includes plenary sessions related to a particular theme, numerous paper sessions organized by discipline-based Interest Groups, worship, fellowship, and networking opportunities.